Mop having clamping plate type holder



Jan. 10, 1956 L. A. LITTLETON MOP HAVING CLAMPING PLATE TYPE HOLDER Filed June 27, 1952 1 N VEN TOR.

United States Patent MOP HAVING CLAMPING PLATE TYPE HOLDER Louis A. Littleton, Point Pleasant, N. J. Application June 27, 1952, Serial No. 296,045

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-229) This invention relates to mops, particularly to mop holders, and has for its primary object to provide an improved mop holder adaptable for cleaning floors and the like without marring the surface thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple, readily separable holder for mop heads of conventional construction.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a mop holder of such form that the mop holder may be operated in any direction without scratching the floor or baseboard, regardless whether the mop head is in an open or closed position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mop holder structure which is adaptable for scrubbing as well as for conventional rubbing purposes.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such mop holder having improved mop securing means which are simple and economical in construction and reliable in operation.

Other and further objects will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claim, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

In accordance with the invention, the foregoing objects and advantages are accomplished by providing a mop holder in which one embodiment thereof comprises a pair of similar, arcuate clamping plates in which one plate is provided with a stud that projects through conventional mop material and thence through its associated clamping plate into a threaded ferrule provided on a conventional handle. The clamping plate contiguous to the handle is convex on its outer surface and concave on its inner surface, while the other plate is convex on its inner surface and concave on its outer surface. Preferably, both clamping plates, when viewed in transverse section, are shaped along 90 arcs of concentric circles and, when viewed in longitudinal section, are shorter in length than the width of the mop material. Other illustrated embodiments of the invention will be considered in detail hereinafter.

A more complete understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view of a mop holder in accordance with the present invention illustrating a pair of similarly curved plates for clamping mop material therebetween in which the lower plate is threadedly secured by a bolt to a ferrule disposed at the lower end of a handle which is partially shown in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the mop holder illustrated in Fig. 1 with a portion of the clamping plates shown in section;

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views of other embodiments of mop holder in accordance with the pres ent invention wherein angular clamping plates are illus trated;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of portions of a curved and an angular clamping plate for use in a mop holder of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of still another embodiment of the present invention with a portion of the lower clamping plate in elevation, wherein spherical clamping plates are illustrated; and

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the mop holder illustrated in Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawing, particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown a mop holder 10 comprising a pair of similarly shaped clamping plates 12 and 14 for compressing therebetween a conventional mop head 16 of any suitable material, such as that made up of strands of ropelike construction, which strands extend outwardly in a bulbous-like manner beyond the plates 12, 14, as shown in the drawing. Preferably, both clamping plates 12 and 14, as shown in transverse section in Fig. l, are shaped along a ninety degree are of concentric circles, that is, the opposite pairs of edges of the clamping plates form 90 angles so as to assure of most efiicient seizure of the mop material 16 therebetween and at the same time provide an assembled mop which can be used freely without marring the floor or sideboard. It will therefore be noted that the upper plate 12 is convex in shape along its outer surface and concave along its inner surface while the lower plate 14 is convex along its inner surface and concave along its outer surface.

The lower plate 14 is shown provided with an upwardly extending, threaded bolt 18 which is rigidly secured thereto in any suitable manner, as by passing the shank of the bolt through an opening 20 centrally located in plate 14 and Welding the head 22 thereof to the under or concave surface of the plate 14. The upper plate 12 is provided with a rib 23 along the longitudinal axis thereof and through the center thereof is shown an opening 24 for passage therethrough of the bolt 18. The upper surface of the rib 23 is fiat to facilitate assembly of the upper plate 12 to the bottom face of a ferrule 26 having a boss 28 provided with internal threads for mesh engagement with the threaded bolt 18. The ferrule 26 is shown carried at the lower end of a handle 30 and is secured thereto in any suitable manner, as by set screws or pins 32 passing through openings 34 in the ferrule and into the handle.

In assembling the mop it is merely necessary to lay the central portion of the mop head 16 over the lower clamping plate 1 4, thread the bolt 18 through the strands of the mop head, although it is preferable to provide the mop head with a centrally located grommet 36 for easy passage therethrough of the bolt, place the upper plate over the mop head with the bolt passing therethrough and, finally screwing the handle with ferrule onto the bolt until the desired compression of the mop head is attained. Release of the mop head is readily accomplished by merely turning the handle so as to loosen the bolt from the threaded ferrule.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, there are shown two additional embodiments of the invention in which similarly shaped angular clamping plates are employed. in Fig. 3 both plates 38 and 40 are provided with central flat portions 42 and 44, respectively, and downwardly sloping, flat side portions 46 and 48, the central and side portions of the respective plates being parallel with respect to each other. In Fig. 4, the two clamping plates 50 and 52 comprise downwardly sloping, flat angular side portions 54 and 56 respectively parallel with each other, in which the ferrule 26 is secured to the bolt along a ridge 58 of the upper clamping plate 56. in both Figs. 3 and 4 the opposite pairs of edges of the respective clamping plates are shown, as in Fig. l, forming 90 angles.

In Fig. 5 another embodiment of the invention is partially shown wherein the upper clamping plate 60 is arcuate, as in Fig. 1, while the lower clamping plate 62 is angular; as in Fig: 3, the remainder of the mop holder being similar to that already described and therefore omitted to simplify the drawing. 7 I

In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown still another embodiment of the invention for use particularly on boats and the like where it is necessary to rnop around smaller and more confined areas. In this embodiment both cl'a'mpi'ng plates 64 and 66 comprise spherical S g1 l1nt- S, Oppsite pairs of edges of which plates fori'n 90 angles, as shown, adapted to compress the mop head 16 in substantially the same manner as described in the preceding embodiments.

From the foregoing description it will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improved mop holder that is simple, practical, and economical, and can be readily used with freedom, since it may be held in any direction without fear of 'marring the furniture, sideboards, and hardwaretduring the cleaning operation. The mop holder is sturdy in construction and can withstand such rough usage to which it may normally be subjected.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matters are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

posed, registered apertures for clamping said mop head therebetween, said plates bein'gshorter in length than the width of the mop head and having downwardly sloping sides in which the upper surface of the top plate is protuberant and in which the lower surface of the bottom plate is hollow, said sloping sides being of predetermined widths whereby lines drawn across each pair of adjacent side edges thereof will converge and intersect to form a ninety degree angle, a handle, a ferrule having an internally threaded opening rigidly secured to said handle, and a bolt passing through said registered apertures and internally threaded opening for securing said plates and mop 334,214 Barringer Jan. 12, 1886 909,793 Hening Jan. 12,1909 1,115,442 Lamb Oct. 27,1914 1,139,834 Baugh May 18,1915 1,163,824 Johnson Dec. 14,1915 2,196,365 Schulman Apr. 9, 1940 2,489,158 Rodgers Nov. 22, 1-949 FOREIGN PATENTS 58,542 Germany Sept. 15, 1891 393,456 Great Britain a 0ct. 6, 1932 638,808 France Feb. 27,1928 

